Clijsters targets Venus and Serena at US Open

The remarkable comeback of Kim Clijsters gathered pace at the US Open, underlining her growing threat to the domination of the Williams sisters.

The 26-year-old Belgian defeated 14th seed Marion Bartoli of France 5-7,6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the third round.

In just her third tournament back after a two year 'retirement' during which she got married and had a baby daughter, 26-year-old Clijsters started slowly but moved up through the gears to stun the former world top tenner.

She will next play another Belgian, Kirsten Flipkens, for a place in the last 16, where she could run into Venus Williams, who is struggling with a knee injury.

The 29-year-old American, who won back-to-back titles here in 2000 and 2001, wore a heavy white strapping to support her left knee in her tie against compatriot Bethanie Mattek-Sands, but she was rarely stretched and won 6-4, 6-4.

Younger sibling Serena, who is in the same half of the draw, later produced an awesome display of power hitting to demolish Hungary's Melina Czink 6-1, 6-1 and reinforce her position as the tournament's outstanding favourite.

Clijsters said that the key to her win over Bartoli had been a tactical change she had made after losing the first set.

"She was playing really well and dominating the points and my forehand was not going the way I wanted it too," she said.